Piano Moving in Sussex
Pianos are heavy, delicate and awkward — our specialist piano moving team uses the right equipment and technique to move uprights and grands safely, whatever the access.
- Uprights, baby grands and grand pianos
- Specialist equipment and trained movers
- Careful planning for tight access and stairs
- Fully insured handling
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Moving Pianos Safely, Whatever the Access
A piano can weigh several hundred kilograms and is easily damaged if handled incorrectly — and it can injure people who try to move it without the right equipment. Our trained team uses piano boards, skates, padding and careful planning to navigate doorways, stairs and tight access safely.
We move pianos as part of a full house removal or as a standalone job, and can arrange secure storage if needed. For other heavy or delicate items, ask about our specialist handling.
Why Move With Wolves Removals for Piano Moving?
We’re a friendly, family-run Sussex removals and storage company that has been keeping its promises since 2016. From a single item to a full home or office move, every job is fully insured and led by a dedicated coordinator, so you always have one point of contact.
As a LAPADA member and a Checkatrade-verified team, we handle it all with real care — expert packing, home and business removals, clean, secure storage and specialist antiques handling across Sussex, Surrey, Hampshire and Kent.
Why Pianos Demand a Different Approach to Every Other Item in Your Home
A piano is unlike anything else our crews handle on a removals day. It combines extreme weight with a high, narrow centre of gravity, a delicate string and soundboard assembly hidden beneath a polished cabinet, and a value — financial and sentimental — that rarely shows on the outside. A modern upright typically weighs between 180kg and 300kg, while a baby grand starts around 250kg and a full concert grand can exceed 500kg. Those numbers matter, but the weight alone is not what catches inexperienced movers out. It is how that weight is distributed. Lift an upright carelessly and the mass tips backwards onto the heaviest internal components; tilt a grand the wrong way and the entire load shifts onto a single caster or leg that was never designed to bear it. As a family-run Sussex removals firm established in 2016, we have learned that successful piano moving is less about brute strength and far more about reading balance, planning the route, and respecting the instrument’s engineering. That is the mindset our team brings to every job, whether it is a treasured upright crossing a Pulborough living room or a Steinway grand travelling across the county.
Uprights and Grands — Two Instruments, Two Completely Separate Techniques
People often assume that once you can move one piano you can move them all, but uprights and grands could hardly be more different to handle. An upright keeps its full height throughout the move, so the priority is controlling that tall, top-heavy mass on a robust four-wheel piano trolley while two crew members steady it from either end. The danger with an upright is always the backward tip, so we keep it square, never let it lean against an unsupported wall, and pad the back panel where the internal frame sits closest to the surface.
A grand is a different discipline entirely. To move a grand safely it is partly dismantled at the start: the lid is closed and locked, the music desk removed, the pedal lyre detached, and the three legs unbolted in a specific order so the instrument is never left resting on a leg that is about to come off. The body is then lowered onto its straight side onto a padded piano skid board, strapped securely, and stood upright on the skid for transport. Reassembly at the destination reverses the sequence with equal care. We treat each format on its own terms, and where an instrument is especially valuable or antique we extend the same handling principles we apply across our specialised antiques moving service.
- Uprights — kept full height on a piano trolley, controlled against the backward tip, back panel padded
- Grands — legs, lyre and music desk removed, body laid on a padded skid board and strapped
- Baby grands — same skid technique scaled down, with extra care on lid and casework
- Player and digital hybrids — electronics protected and the action secured before any lift
The Specialist Equipment That Makes a Safe Piano Move Possible
The right kit is the difference between a smooth, uneventful move and an afternoon of struggle and risk. Trying to shuffle a quarter-tonne instrument across a room on a domestic sack truck is how floors, fingers and pianos get damaged. Our crews arrive equipped specifically for the job in hand, and we survey what will be needed before the day so nothing is improvised on the spot. The core of any piano move is a heavy-duty piano trolley for uprights and a padded skid board for grands, supported by wide load-bearing straps that let two people share and control the weight rather than fight it.
For stairs and steep thresholds we use proper lifting straps and, where the access genuinely calls for it, mechanical stair-climbing equipment so the load is lowered step by step under control rather than dropped or dragged. Every contact point is wrapped in thick quilted padding and stretch wrap to guard the polished casework, and corners and pedals are given extra protection. For the most valuable instruments, or for long-distance and storage journeys, we can build a bespoke timber case through our custom crate service so the piano travels inside a rigid, climate-buffered shell. This is the same equipment-led, methodical standard you will find in our white glove moving service.
Surveying Access First — Stairs, Doorways and Tight Corners
The single biggest cause of a piano move going wrong is failing to check the access before the instrument is on the move. We never simply turn up and hope it fits. Wherever possible we carry out a survey of both properties first, measuring doorways, stairwells, turning angles on landings, and the headroom on any half-landing where a piano has to be pivoted. A grand that comes apart onto a skid will pass through spaces an upright never could, and knowing this in advance shapes the entire plan for the day.
Sussex has its share of period cottages with narrow Victorian staircases, listed properties with tight winders, and new-build flats where the only realistic route is a particular lift or an external hoist. Identifying those constraints early means we bring the correct equipment and crew size, and occasionally it means recommending that a window or balcony route is the safer option. A proper survey also protects your home: we plan where padding, floor runners and corner guards need to go so skirting boards, banisters and door frames come through untouched. If you would like us to assess access at your property anywhere across West Sussex and the surrounding counties, the survey is the natural first step before we give you an accurate quote.
- Doorway, stairwell and landing measurements taken at both addresses
- Turning and pivot points identified so corners are negotiated, not forced
- Floor runners and corner guards positioned to protect your home
- Window or hoist routes recommended where internal access is genuinely impractical
Protecting the Instrument — and Why You Should Re-Tune After a Move
Even a flawlessly executed move subjects a piano to vibration, temperature change and the small movements that travel does to a wooden frame strung under tens of tonnes of cumulative string tension. For this reason it is normal, and we always recommend it, to have a piano professionally re-tuned a few weeks after relocation. The delay matters: leaving the instrument to settle in its new room and acclimatise before tuning gives the soundboard and tuning pins time to adjust to the new humidity and temperature, so the tuning holds. A piano tuned the same afternoon it arrives will often drift again within days.
Climate is the quiet enemy of any piano. The soundboard is solid timber that expands and contracts with moisture in the air, and sudden swings cause tuning instability and, over time, cracking. We advise positioning a piano away from radiators, exterior walls, conservatories and direct sunlight, and where a move involves the most precious or antique instruments we apply the careful, padded handling associated with our fragile packing service. Throughout it all you are protected: Wolves Removals is fully insured with £10m liability cover, so your instrument is in safe hands from the moment we arrive to the moment it is back on its feet.
Storing a Piano Safely Between Homes
Pianos and ordinary self-storage do not always mix. An unheated, uninsulated container that swings from cold and damp in winter to hot and dry in summer will work loose a piano’s tuning and, over months, can warp the case or damage the soundboard. When a move involves a gap between properties — a sale completing before a purchase, a renovation, or a relocation in stages — the way the instrument is stored matters as much as the way it is carried. We keep a grand on its skid board, fully wrapped, and an upright securely padded and stood upright, never on its back, so the internal frame is never loaded in a direction it was not built for.
For longer periods we can crate the instrument and hold it within our secure storage facilities, keeping it wrapped, raised off the floor and protected from knocks while it waits. Because we handle the collection, storage and final delivery as one continuous chain, the piano is touched by the same crew that knows its history, rather than being passed between hands. It is one less thing to worry about when life puts a pause between one home and the next.
Trusted Piano Moving Since 2016
Wolves Removals is a modern, family-run removals company built on traditional values — reliability, responsiveness and keeping our promises. We’ve been moving homes and businesses across Sussex, Surrey, Hampshire and Kent since 2016, and we’re proud to be recommended by leading estate agents including Fine & Country, Justin Lloyd and Mansell McTaggart.
Our accreditations reflect how we work: we are a LAPADA member for antiques and fine-art handling, Checkatrade-verified, and fully insured on every job. To deliver consistently high standards we run a modern, fully maintained fleet and a trained, experienced team who treat your belongings as their own. We also welcome feedback — listening to our customers is how we keep improving. Read our customer reviews or learn more about us.
Piano Moving with Wolves Removals
Our trained, fully insured team handling moves across Sussex and beyond.
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Why Choose Wolves Removals for Piano Moving?
Fully insured & accredited
LAPADA member and Checkatrade-verified, with full insurance on every move.
Trained, experienced team
Over 100 years' combined experience, handling your belongings with real care.
Transparent fixed pricing
Clear written quotes with no hidden extras — you know the cost up front.
One point of contact
A dedicated move coordinator looks after your job from first call to settling in.
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Piano Moving — Your Questions Answered
Yes — we move uprights, baby grands and full grands with the right equipment and trained movers.
We plan each piano move around access — stairs, narrow doorways and tight turns — using boards, skates and padding to keep it safe.
Pianos often benefit from tuning a few weeks after a move once they’ve settled. We handle the move; you can arrange a tuner afterwards.
Yes, fully insured. We’ll discuss cover given the value of your instrument.
Weight varies enormously, which is exactly why we plan each move individually. A typical upright is 180–300kg, a baby grand starts around 250kg, and a concert grand can exceed 500kg. But it is the balance and centre of gravity, not the raw figure, that dictates technique — uprights stay full height on a trolley, while grands are partly dismantled and laid on a padded skid board. We confirm the type and approximate weight when we survey the job so we bring the correct equipment and crew.
Almost always, yes. The vibration of travel and the change in room temperature and humidity will shift the tuning slightly. We recommend waiting a few weeks before having it professionally re-tuned so the instrument has settled and acclimatised to its new surroundings — tuning it too soon usually means it drifts again. Positioning the piano away from radiators, exterior walls and direct sunlight also helps the tuning hold.
In most cases, yes — but only after we have surveyed the access. We measure doorways, stairwells and landing turns at both properties first, then bring the right lifting straps, stair-climbing equipment and crew size for the route. A grand that comes apart onto a skid will pass through spaces an upright cannot. Where an internal route is genuinely impractical, we will advise on a window or hoist option rather than risk damaging the instrument or your home.
Yes. Wolves Removals is fully insured with £10m liability cover, and as a LAPADA member and Checkatrade-verified company we apply specialist handling standards to every instrument. We are based at Doryln House, London Road, Ashington near Pulborough RH20 3JT, and cover West and East Sussex, Surrey, Hampshire and Kent, as well as moves across the UK and Europe. To arrange a survey and quote, call 01903 893731 or email contact@wolves-removals.co.uk.
